Fried Beneath the Universal aEye
Professor Xiaoxing Xi, a physics professor with Temple University, was the subject of government surveillance under a FISA order. Professor Xi faced a prosecution that was later dropped because there was no evidence that he had engaged in any wrongdoing. Ever since this invasive surveillance against him, he has become an outspoken advocate against race-based surveillance and prosecution.
We asked Professor Xi to elaborate on the surveillance against him and the effect it had on him, his family, and his scientific work.
Q: People assume their private communications are not visible to others, but it's become more and more clear that the government is surveilling countless Americans. How did you feel when you learned that the government had been reading your private emails, listening to your private phone calls, and conducting electronic surveillance?
It was frightening. I knew from the beginning that their charges against me were completely wrong, but we were fearful till the end that they might twist something I wrote in my emails or something I said over the phone to send me to jail. I also felt like I was being violated. When you lose your privacy, it's like being forced to walk around naked.
EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/qa-professor-xiaoxing-xi-victim-unjust-surveillance
We asked Professor Xi to elaborate on the surveillance against him and the effect it had on him, his family, and his scientific work.
Q: People assume their private communications are not visible to others, but it's become more and more clear that the government is surveilling countless Americans. How did you feel when you learned that the government had been reading your private emails, listening to your private phone calls, and conducting electronic surveillance?
It was frightening. I knew from the beginning that their charges against me were completely wrong, but we were fearful till the end that they might twist something I wrote in my emails or something I said over the phone to send me to jail. I also felt like I was being violated. When you lose your privacy, it's like being forced to walk around naked.
EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/qa-professor-xiaoxing-xi-victim-unjust-surveillance